Maris Fessenden

 

Maris Fessenden is a freelance science writer and artist who appreciates small things and wide open spaces.

An artists interpretation of a large asteroid hitting Earth

Scientists Bombard the Earth With Asteroids to Practice Saving It

The Planetary Defense Conference doesn’t just have papers and seminars. It also has an asteroid disaster scenario to solve.

Hormones Show Dogs Don’t Just Think of Us As Providers of Food

When dogs and humans share long looks, a chemical involved in social bonding surges through their bodies

Borneo orangutan

Learn the Secrets of Ape’s Sleeping Habits

Apes sleep better and longer than other primates

A fairy circle in the Namibian desert — one of many large patches of barren earth ringed by short grass

Mysterious "Fairy" Circles Share Qualities With Human Skin

Researchers noticed that the pattern of Namibia's "fairy" circles strongly resembles that of skin cell growth

Hibernating dormouse

Scientists Are Trying to Figure Out If Humans Can Hibernate

Studies of hibernators and experiments inducing short-term torpor in humans may answer whether human hibernation is possible

A blue whale surfacing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence

Maybe the World's Loneliest Whale Isn't So Isolated, After All

Some evidence indicates that the singer of a higher-pitched whale song may not be alone

Painkillers Might Also Dull Your Emotions

A study shows Tylenol could affect emotional evaluations, but judging the meaning of that finding is tough

Watercolor illustration of a pony express rider

The Pony Express Was Short-Lived And Costly

The service only lasted 18 months, but became an important icon of the West

The blobs, colored to show motion, are G2 as it approaches and passes the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy

Escape From the Black Hole’s Abyss!

An object called G2—previously believed to be a gas cloud—narrowly slipped from the clutches of a supermassive black hole

This "Stars and Stripes" toadfish living in Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan is one member of a very noisy kind of fish

At Night, Fish Communicate With Special Calls, Whistles and Grunts

Dropping a hydrophone into an underwater cave helps researchers make sense of the din

Army Avrocars depicted as "flying jeeps" in company literature

Early Flying Machines Were Just Weird

There’s a reason most designs didn’t stick around

High Schoolers Might Code Rather Than Speak French

But proponents of foreign language schooling aren’t pleased

Here’s How Europeans Quickly Evolved Lighter Skin

Darker skinned people lived in Europe until fairly recently

Strawberries growing in hoop houses

Most Plastic Trash Comes From Farms

Here's what they're trying to do about it

The historic 1910 Fiat S76 rides!

A Racing Car Built in 1910 Roars to Life Once More

It was unofficially the fastest car in its time and still impresses today

Three new proposed cone snail species (L-R): Conus carlottae, Conus garrisoni and Conus bellacoensis, under regular light (top) and ultraviolet light (middle) and with colors reversed to approximate how they would have appeared (bottom)

UV Light Reveals the Colors of Fossil Shells

Patterns made visible help a researcher discover 13 new species of ancient cone snails

Houston, We Might Have Some Major Problems Making Babies in Space

From risky pregnancies to birth defects to problems with inbreeding, it just seems like a bad idea

Screenshot from "Macro Timelapse" at Natural Recall

Growing Plants Have Never Looked So Gruesome

All it takes is a slight shift of perspective to realize plants are far from inanimate

There Are Communities of People Who Call Themselves Vampires

"Their self-described nature begins to manifest around or just after puberty"

Men and Women See Things Differently (No, Literally)

Color perception may actually have something to do with gender

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